Chinese boat owner says NKoreans detained his crew

[Bosonic]

Source: AP

BEIJING (AP) -- Unidentified North Koreans have seized a Chinese fishing boat and its 16 crew members and have demanded a ransom, Chinese state media and the boat owner say.

Owner Yu Xuejun said on a microblog that the boat was floating in Chinese waters on May 5 when it was boarded and detained by gun-wielding North Koreans. He wrote on Tencent Weibo late Saturday that the "North Korean side" had demanded 600,000 yuan ($100,000).

He said he had turned to the Internet to issue an appeal for help and because he wanted the Foreign Ministry to pay attention.

Calls to the maritime police and foreign and public security ministries rang unanswered Sunday.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_NKOREA_BOAT_SEIZED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[TheMightyFavog]

1. Does North Korea seriously want to wake the tiger?

[secondvariety]

2. Keep poking the hornet's nest.

[Brother Buzz]

3. This reads like it's an act of free market piracy lifted straight out of a Somalian blueprint...

and the North Korean military is not even involved in it....yet.

Am I missing something?

[bemildred]

4. Yes, it sounds like things are not all under control there.

The N. Korean reaction is going to be interesting, and the Chinese.

[Lasher]

5. Not exactly.

The North Koreans say they they would confiscate the boat and repatriate the crew if the money is not paid. So it's inaccurate to say that a ransom is being sought.

The Chinese seem to have been caught illegally fishing in North Korean waters. If that is the case, then North Korea's behavior is justified, and the boat owner should have to pay the $100,000 USD fine before he can get his boat back.

[socialsecurityisAAA]

7. The boat was in Chinese waters.

[Lasher]

8. How is it that you know this?

The boat owner is making this claim but I don't think we can take him at his word.

[Marrah_G]

6. There really isn't much that is done in NK without gov say-so